In case you somehow have missed the news in the world of tarot social media, Jamie Sawyer has made a tarot deck of people she knows and from whom she might seek council, both in her everyday life and/or in the realm of diviners and other spirit workers, the Pocket of Peers Tarot. It isn’t available yet—the Kickstarter campaign launches on March 26—but as one of the tarot readers featured in the deck (5 of Swords), I received a sample copy in gratitude. It’s such a fun idea, and while not everyone I know and love in the tarot world is in it, there are enough familiar voices to easily understand this as a deck of advisors, opinions, and voices. And as for those whose work or perspectives I don’t know, it’s an invitation to learn (as we see below).

As always, I’m using my own deck interview spread, about which you can read more here.

Pocket of Peers Tarot deck interview by Hermit's Mirror — INTERVIEWING THE POCKET OF PEERS TAROT

**What major lesson are you here to help me learn?** *Teacher (Mary K Greer)*
**Through which divine energy can we best communicate?** *4 of Pentacles (rx)*
**In what area can you aid me to help others?** *King of Swords*
**In what area could your guidance be easily misunderstood?** *2 of Wands (rx)*
**What can I do to keep our communication clear?** *3 of Wands (rx)*
**How can I use your guidance for the highest good?** *Page of Cups*
**How will I know when we’re ready for a new lesson?** *King of Pentacles*

One of the things that has become crystal clear to me in the last five or so years since I started to really work with tarot again is how much wider the lens is through which I can see the spiritual world and how much greater and more diverse the range of opinions and opportunities to learn is. For a very long time, I read tarot the way I had learned to read it, even when it didn’t work for me in a way I could understand. I would occasionally (rarely) go out and read a book on the subject, but I didn’t know of or think to look for voices that might never have found their way into books I could find at my local big-chain bookstore. Despite its many problems and false promises of an egalitarian marketplace of ideas, the internet and social media do at least provide easier access to that greater range. (I’m not saying that I think the internet or even social media suddenly appeared five or so years ago—I just wasn’t interested in finding tarot-related people on it until then.) As someone who spends much more time creating content offline than consuming it online, it can feel like an overwhelming task to keep up. In fact, I’ve stopped trying to convince myself that I can or should. But what seeing the Mary K Greer Teacher card here in the first position reminds me is that this deck will help me learn to seek out others who can teach and advise. Although life has taught me that, if needed, I can go it alone in just about anything, it doesn’t make me better when I stick to a solitary path. It will always be part of me, of course, as it should be a part of everyone’s practice, but it shouldn’t be the only way that I work in this space. There are so many wonderful and brilliant people from whom to learn and be inspired, and I need to seek more of them out.

The reversed 4 of Pentacles and the Page of Cups show that this can arise from a conscious focus on releasing some of the blocks that I’ve intentionally put up and allowing creativity to flow, whatever form that takes. I need to be less worried about returns on investment and making “the most” out of my limited time here on Earth. (I don’t have a terminal disease or anything. I just recognize that life is probably far shorter than the plans that I have.) I need to let go of some of my expectations of time. But that’s hard for me, and so I suspect that some of this will come through the querents who seek me out.

I understand from the King of Swords, reversed 2 of Wands, and reversed 3 of Wands that others will come to me needing help with these same lessons about how we spend our time and with (or for) whom. In helping them to understand this lesson, it should sink in for me over time as well. As for how I can help others with this deck, there’s a certain simple wisdom and logic that’s important. It’s not a deck of fire and creation (in the way that I’ll need to use it) but for council when things need to be clearer. It’s about listening to simple truths and assessing the challenges ahead using everything that has come before, now seen with the clarity of hindsight. With this deck, I won’t be helping others to reach out into the ether. Instead, I will help them draw up the knowledge and wisdom that that they have based on their own lived experiences. From there, real growth can occur.

And speaking of growth, what happens next will be my own development and a more established place (or greater comfort with my place) among such vaunted peers. I suspect that it will take a while for me to fully learn the lessons shown here. But when I do, I will be so much better for having learned them.

I originally ended the deck interview here, but hello? There is a literal prompt in this deck that I ignored even though it is directly related to listening to and learning from others: the Teacher card. In this deck, there are two Teacher cards, and they encourage you to look into the books (assuming you have some) or free resources online written by the teacher depicted (Greer or Rachel Pollack). I have Tarot for Your Self by Mary K. Greer, but—truth be told—I don’t think I’ve actually read much of it, so I went back and read or maybe a decade or two later re-read (I can’t recall at this point) the introduction and first chapter.

I know that a lot of my own influences have been influenced by Greer, which is why I have this book now, but I strongly resonate with Greer’s theories of tarot and with her philosophies for how to incorporate it into one’s life. (I think Rachel Pollack has probably helped build more of my tarot lexicon, but we’ll see when I read her direct work rather than others’ interpretations.) I also am pretty sure that I’ve never, even years ago, read this book in full, which is a shame in some ways. My introduction to tarot came through much more esoteric and ritual texts that led me to use tarot as a prop for many years and not really connect with it. I’m excited to discover the source for some of my practices and see where my own idiosyncrasies have created variations that work better for me personally.

If you’re curious about either of these teachers but don’t want to look them up, here are their websites: Mary K. Greer’s Tarot Blog and The Shining Tribe (Pollack).

The cards pictured here are from the Pocket of Peers Tarot, created by Jamie Sawyer © 2021. All rights reserved. As mentioned, the deck isn’t yet available for purchase (see the Kickstarter launch page), but you can find Jamie’s other decks and her many other creations on her Etsy store and Printer’s Studio shop.

Deck Interview: Pocket of Peers Tarot